World ORT, ORT Israel can share ORT name, Israeli high court rules

NEW YORK (JTA) — World ORT and ORT Israel both can use the ORT name for fundraising purposes, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled.

A three-judge high court panel decided Monday that the two Jewish school systems can use the name in Israel. Its ruling settles a long-standing dispute between the systems that featured years of appeals.

The panel ruled that both parties are owners of the original name, and that World ORT could use the name “World Ort” in English only, according to documents supplied to JTA by the organization. World ORT also was awarded roughly $10,000 in legal fees.

World ORT and ORT Israel had been one organization for more than a century before a nasty split in 2006. At that time ORT Israel, which runs a system of vocational schools in Israel also under the name Israel Sci-Tech Schools, won a lawsuit in an Israeli District Court giving it the sole right to use the name ORT for fundraising purposes in Israel.

World ORT, an international network of Jewish vocational schools with roots dating back to 19th century Russia, had been using its Hebrew name, Kadima Mada, to raise money in Israel for the past four years.